Keiko Hara

(Japanese, born 1942)

Keiko Hara’s art is about facing and examining life through her own personal language – something which cannot be done in any way other than art, in her opinion.

Hara was born during World War II in North Korea to Japanese parents. In 1945, her family moved back to Japan, where she was raised. As a young woman, she attended art school in Tokyo, exhibited her paintings, and taught arts and crafts in the public school system. Eventually she travelled to the United States in 1971, completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Mississippi University for Women, a Master of Arts degree in printmaking from University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Hara was a professor of art at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Southeastern Washington, from 1985 to 2006. She continues to live and make art in Walla Walla.